On December 4, 2009, International Bridges to Justices’ China offices participated in the annual Rule of Law Promotion Day. The goal is to increase awareness of the legal rights provided to Chinese citizens. Since 2003, IBJ has partnered with the Peking University School of Law and the All-China Lawyers’ Association’s Constitutional and Human Rights Law Committee to launch extensive legal rights awareness campaigns on December 4th of each year.

This year, the legal education campaigns were aimed at informing the most vulnerable groups in society of their procedural rights in criminal cases, focused primarily on permanent rural residents, returning migrant workers, and their children. In partnership with local law firms and law students, staff from IBJ’s headquarters in Beijing facilitated a series of different events, which happened in 12 locations all over China.

Two days before December 4th, staff from IBJ’s Southeast Regional Defender Resource Center in Wuhan, in conjunction with Wuhan University law students and the Center for the Protection of the Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens, engaged with participants at an employment fair in Wuhan. Standing under the banner “All People Have Equal Opportunities”, the students and lawyers spoke with everyone who passed the tables. They addressed questions from workers on how to get employers to pay their salaries, discrimination in hiring and insurance for work-related injuries.

On December 4th, IBJ’s Wuhan staff engaged local players in the justice system in a discussion that featured a migrant rights lawyer and a disabilities rights lawyer. At this event, lawyers from private firms, professors, judges, police officers and students discussed the pertinent legal issues faced by migrant workers. Their discussion highlighted the powerlessness of migrant workers when companies refuse to the pay them, because these workers do not have official contracts. Additionally, when migrant workers sustain work related injuries, they are not covered by their company’s insurance. Even in the rare instance when migrant worker receives compensation in court, it is hard for judges to enforce the ruling.

On the same day, staff from the IBJ’s China National Defender Resource Center joined lawyers from Beijing Impact Law Firm, professors from Beida University and Central University of Finance and Economics organized a legal rights awareness event in Inner Mongolia. In the capital of Hohhot, they visited a juvenile detention facility and organized a discussion  with local officials and legal aid lawyers on the legal issues faced by the children of migrants.

On December 5th, South East Defense Resource Center staff visited a local legal aid center in the countryside about two hours from their office in Wuhan with two law students. This local legal aid center, which has one lawyer and four legal aid workers, mediate disputes for the local people, include issues of divorce, property and personal injury claims. During their visits, the law students and SEDRC staff engaged in discussion with the staff and handed out IBJ’s brochures on legal rights, which generated a great deal of interest in groups of local migrant workers.

IBJ’s Northwest Regional Defender Resource Center in Xi’an also held several events in celebration of Rule of Law Promotion Day. On December 4, IBJ’s Xi’an office worked with law students from Northwest University of Politics and Law, Beijing Law School educated 200 workers about their rights through public consulting tables. Agricultural workers were primarily concerned with the issue of broken salary contracts – there was a case of a woman who claimed that her brother was owed 200,000 RMB by his company. Another common issue was work related injuries. At this event, IBJ was able to network with local law firms in order to talk about criminal cases.
Through the successful events of the December 4th Rule of Law Day, IBJ’s China offices continue to establish partnership with local universities and law firms in order to spread awareness about the legal rights all over China.